


No Means Cut a Limb Off

by flordecai



Series: It's a New-U, Tannis [4]
Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: #Jack Is A Prick 2kFOREVER, Jack can't take no for an answer, Other, here's a story about the time i lost my leg because Jack hated my answers, no means no but to jack no means cut my leg off
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-06
Updated: 2017-05-06
Packaged: 2018-10-28 15:10:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10833795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flordecai/pseuds/flordecai
Summary: When Tannis continues to refuse to say where the Key is, Jack's true reasons for wanting the Key are discovered- along with other methods of torture that he is willing to inflict on his captive in order to get the information he seeks. Because, after all, the hero must do everything he can to get what he needs, right?





	No Means Cut a Limb Off

**_Previously..._ **

_“I… I cannot accept this trade, it is not beneficial for me in any degree.” The wide smile that had been sliding across his hideous face instantly was replaced with a scowl, a cold, dark and angry scowl that I instantly know meant I had just made a grave mistake._

Before I can reconsider my answer, Jack launches across the small area of space to pin me once again to the dusty earth. The air is knocked out of me as he grips my throat with his surprisingly small hands, pressing against my windpipe. I gasp loudly as I struggle for air, my dismembered hands scratching against the other’s hands in a desperate attempt to rip his hands off of me, his weight on my chest.

“Sweet heart, buttercup, darling, that wasn’t the answer I wanted… Maybe we should teach you what happens when you fight the good guys. Wilhelm, establish the New-U station!” He yelled, standing up and standing to my left, brushing his hands off on his pants. I scramble back against the rocks just a foot or two away, my hands clutching my throat as I pant for air, tears sliding down my paled cheeks. The burning sensation is new to me, the inability to breath terrifying to even recall, even now. I only remember the flashes, the instant delivery of pain before he had released me, throwing me aside as if I were trash. I am not trash, I am the very opposite, I am brilliant and crucial part of the research being conducted on this dry planet. I am a brilliant scientist, I am…

“New-U is established, sir.” The robotic voice of Wilhelm, the cold and empty voice I now associate with agony and pain- a voice I can truly say I hate now along with his master and commander. “Awaiting your command.” I freeze for a moment, just a moment, I think, because I fully realize the true meaning of the establishment of this oddly placed New-U Station. T

he functions of a New-U Station are simple, the system saves a personalized DNA sample of any person registered with the system upon their arrival to any city on Pandora with a CL4P-TP fully functional thanks the now dismantled and seemingly distant Atlas corporation. The system claims to be the best in severe mutilation or horrible and grotesque death insurance, allowing you to continuously respawn yourself should you ever encounter a situation that was above your level of completion. 

I had little use for the stations, not being registering myself until late after my return from the opening of the first Vault on Pandora, a feat I am currently regretting with every fiber of my being. I have come to the conclusion that the only possible use for the New-U would be that Jack plans to continuously murder me until I give in and reveal the location of the Vault Key, there is no escape from what is about to occur.

As I came to this realization, the brunette to my side seemed to be following my thought process and decided to help further my already rapid train of thought.

“So you get it, don’t ya, Tanny dear? You’re a smart cookie, after all, all that research into the Vault and the Vault Key. I mean, you even wrote an entire ECHO Log series and published them!”He has that sickly sweet and horribly fake smile on his disgusting face, causing the small amount of blood still present in my face to drain away. “I was so intrigued to meet you, really, Tannis. You should know how this ends, either you tell me where the Key is or…” He laughs, giving a careless shrug as he looks at Wilhelm. “You tell me where the Key is, there is no other options, Patty, love.” Jack kneels down to my level and cups my cheek with his surprisingly clean hand, his other pressing against the cut in my hand. This action caused me to whimper pathetically in pain, desperately trying to squirm free from the other above me, but he had successfully pinned me down, his legs on either side of my much lighter frame.

“Tsk, tsk,” He clicked his tongue, the sound making the experience more gut wrenching than before. “Why on Pandora are you fighting this, Patty dear? You’re only making this harder on the good guys and you know how this story ends- your little friends back in Sanctuary die while I civilize this waste dump of a fuckin’ planet. Just imagine what we could do, Patty, darling!” He grins at me as if I am supposed to be on board with this plan to conquer the planet and rid it of the people who fought desperately to… Continue doing whatever it is that they do in their daily life.

Pandora, as I have seen it since my arrival before the opening of the Vault, is a dry and chaotic planet where bandits and Vault Hunters roam in search of whatever their hearts and wallets desire. Any attempts to gain power and control over this largely free planet has been met time and time again by an array of bullets followed swiftly by grenades, turrets, Siren capabilities or birds that dove from the skies to draw blood- or, in Brick’s case, furious fists. The lack of unity among them kept Pandorans content, allow many to make profit, find places to practice what limited medical knowledge they actually have or even conduct research in areas that sincerely interest them, all while having the thrill of risk day in and out.

To tame the wild and dangerous beast that is Pandora would be impossible, unless one were to eliminate the entire population of those who revolted against such rule, and such mass extermination… It was worthless to waste the deaths of more lives to gain scientific knowledge, it goes against everything scientists believe at their core, that makes them- us- who we are and what drives us to seek our purpose. While I can attest to Jack’s dislike of many of those who inhabit this dry planet, I could not see the justification of handing over the one thing that could evolve into the downfall of this chaotically beautiful planet.

Then, a thought hit me.

While I could understand the need for riches, for gold and power beyond one’s own dream, I could not understand why Jack needed the Vault Key. He was the brave and proud CEO of Hyperion, probably the richest man on the planet by a long shot, and in no sign of economic decline in the slightest. Should the Vault hold what many believed it did indeed hold (either a monster of catastrophic proportions or money beyond the human being’s capability of understanding), then Jack would have no need or desire to obtain access to such things, not unless… Unless he had no plans of conquering the planet and subduing the planet, unless he, instead, aimed for a much grander prize. A prize that would result in his ability to control a weapon that had potential to destroy an entire planet should it be ordered to do so, a prize that would mean death to anyone who irritated Jack in the slightest.

As if he could hear my exact thoughts, Jack gave me the widest of smiles, one that seemed more delusional and insane than anything else.

“So Patty the mad scientist finally understands, huh? Too bad you’ll be too locked up in your own thoughts to tell anyone.” He shrugged, standing to pick up something from the weapons case, the metal glinting off the thing as he tilted it slightly, an unfamiliar tune coming from Jack’s lips as he hummed. “See, I knew if I dropped enough hints you’d figure out my plan. I mean, god, you’re a damn scientist. You, unlike those savages in Sanctuary, have a brain in that thick head of your’s.”

I had slowly sat myself up, trying to silently crawl my way to the back wall, wanting to be as far from this mad man as I physically could achieve. This attempt, however, was failed before I could even get so much as three inches away, Wilhelm catching my arm and quickly snapping it, causing a loud scream to erupt from my lips as I doubled over my now broken arm.

“See, stop trying to get away. Wilhelm is under orders to harm you but not kill you, not unless I specifically order him to kill you, anyways.” He was in front of me, tilting my chin upwards and sighing, clicking his tongue again as he held up the large and obviously freshly sharpened blade against one of my legs. “Stop fighting and tell me where it is, love, then this can all be over. As easy as that.”

A long silence lapsed between the three of us, broken by my half gasps half sobs of agony as I held my quickly going numb limb to my chest in an attempt to some how heal the damn thing.

“I can’t betray my friends…” I finally whisper, once my voice has finally returned to me. I see the light leave Jack’s eyes as he sighs, a seemingly bored look overcoming his unpleasant features.

“Oh Patty, when will you ever learn?”


End file.
